Chernobyl Nuclear Disaster and Writers

¶ … Chernobyl nuclear disaster and writers who had a profound impact on the response to the disaster. The nuclear disaster in Chernobyl, Soviet Union in 1986 was one of the worst disasters of the 20th century, and it has had horrible affects on the people who lived anywhere near the nuclear plant. Many writers and artists have had a profound impact on the response to Chernobyl. Some right after the event, and some are still contributing to that impact with continuing coverage of the aftermath of Chernobyl and how it has affected the citizens of Russia and worst of all, how it has affected their children, and continues to affect the area, more than 20 years after the disaster.

The Chernobyl disaster occurred when nuclear reactor block number four at the Chernobyl nuclear facility in Belarus, Russia blew up and spread nuclear radiation over a widespread area. Authors Antoinette De Jong and Robert Knoth chronicle the 20th anniversary of the accident. They write, "An explosion blew the 1000-ton roof off the building. Large quantities of radioactive elements were launched high up into the atmosphere and spread across the entire Northern Hemisphere" (De Jong and Knoth). Another writer who is making an impact by writing of the children affected and still being affected by the radiation is Marie Croce, who says, "More than 70 per cent of the radioactive contamination was blown over Belarus and today only one per cent of the land is uncontaminated. The children of Belarus are the innocent victims of the disaster, suffering cancer, leukemia, and thyroid diseases from birth" (Croce 34). All of these authors capture the magnitude of the disaster, and indicate that something of this magnitude cannot simply disappear; the effects will certainly linger on long after the disaster is contained, and that is exactly what has happened with Chernobyl.

All of these writers focus on the plight of the children, as they have no choice in where they were born or what conditions affect them. Author Croce continues, "As a direct result of the Chernobyl accident, more than 1.5 million children are at high risk of contracting cancer or leukemia and there is an 800 per cent increase in thyroid diseases" (Croce 34). Most of the families are extremely poor, and have little hope for the future. Authors De Jong and Knoth corroborate this poverty and hopelessness in their photo-essay that chronicles children and adults throughout the Belarus region. Some have committed suicide, others have abandoned their newborn children at hospitals because of their health conditions, and few have moved away, because they do not have the resources to do so. These authors graphically illustrate how horrible the disaster was, the magnitude of the radiation, and how radiation lingers throughout the region, but the people go on living their lives just as they did before. They bathe, fish, and hunt in contaminated rivers, eat contaminated food grown in contaminated soil, and live in towns and villages too contaminated to support life, yet the government does nothing.

All of these writers contribute to the magnitude of the issue by covering it after 20 years have passed and most people have long forgotten the tragedy of Chernobyl. The disaster was in the news for weeks, but the aftermath largely went undiscovered and forgotten, until writers like these began to commemorate the anniversary and paint a bleak picture of life in the region today. It is quite clear that their attitudes toward the event are expressed in their words and photos, and that their hearts linger with the children of Chernobyl, the children with brain tumors, hydrocephalus, birth defects, cancer, and numerous other ailments that have been tied to the radiation that permeates the area. These children are the unsung victims of the disaster, and people no longer think of them, or their plight. These authors attempt to change that by bringing their condition to the public and forcing them to look at what still goes on inside Russia. They show how the government largely ignores the area, the children, and the problem. Hopefully, work like theirs will change society's attitude both toward the aftereffects of this horrible disaster and toward nuclear power in general. Safeguards were not in place in Russia, in fact, the safeguards were turned off the night of the disaster because the technicians were conducting an experiment on orders from Moscow (De Jong and Knoth). Safety should be key in nuclear power plants, but safety was largely ignored, and the people of Russia are still paying the price. This is a hugely emotional issue, and these writers all illustrate that by focusing on the children, who have no choice in their fate. They are the saddest victims of this disaster, and the ones who should evoke the greatest response from the public.